It is said that pork was cured and packed in barrels in Salem, Mass., in 1640, and it is certain that, about 1690, Boston did quite a trade in that line; but the paternity of the Western packing business belongs to Cincinnati. In 1818, Elisha Mills established as a packer in Cincinnati. The first drove of hogs ever received in Chicago was in 1827, but no attempt at packing seems to have been made until 1832. In that year George W. Dole packed some pork for Oliver Newbury, of Detroit; but Chicago does not figure in the statistics of packing points until 1850.
The development of the agricultural resources of the Western States, especially from Ohio to the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, cheapened the cost of producing animals, particularly hogs; and attention to their production was stimulated and encouraged by the demands from Southern and Eastern dealers for product for their markets. Packing operations naturally followed in many places west of Cincinnati, more or less directly in communication with the transportation facilities afforded by river navigation. The movement of the product was by way of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, and a great deal was shipped thence by vessels to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and other cities on the Atlantic coast.
In the early days of Western pork packing the slaughtering was, to a large extent, a distinctive business from the curing operations. The packer confined himself largely to the cutting and curing of dressed hogs. The farmer in those early days slaughtered his own hogs on the farm, in the months of December and January, the neighbors usually assisted; and he sold whatever he could spare over and above the needs of his own family to the nearest storekeeper, or to the small packer, who, located at some convenient point, cut up the dressed hogs, cured the product, and shipped it South. Sometimes, indeed, the packing-house took the form of a flatboat on the river, the curing, such as it was, being done on board. When the spring "break-up " came the flatboat was floated down the river, and the product exchanged at Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, and New Orleans, for sugar, molasses, rice, and other merchandise.
Chicago's place in the packing business is preeminent today, but it was not always so. For the ten years ending with 1851—52 the packing at Cincinnati represented twenty-seven percent of the total for the West. At that time the industry had scarcely been inaugurated at Chicago, and was of unimportant proportions at St. Louis, while Milwaukee, Kansas City, Omaha, and other towns were unknown in the packing lists. Railroads penetrated the West in 1852, and by 1855 several roads were in operation. This influence opened up the country to settlement, and facilitating the exchange of commodities, which had a marked effect on the extension of the packing business, and in changing its geographical position and its character.
The canning of beef was attempted in Chicago in the sixties, and enjoyed some little growth; but it was not until the year 1879 that the beef-canning business was taken up on a large scale by the packers. Mechanical ingenuity, in discovering a sure and practicable method of hermetically sealing tins, rendered possible the preservation of food in this way on a large scale; and the facilities already secured by the large packers for disposing of every part of the animal placed the business entirely in their hands. The convenience of canned beef, tongues, potted meats, and soups, and the fact that they could be guaranteed to keep sound in any climate for years, combined to steadily increase this branch of the industry.
Unfortunately, I could not find any Cincinnati packing billheads. However, below are some nice examples of the area (I think all of these are currently for sale on ebay right now too).
First off is a nice signboard graphic billhead for Jonathan Steward for 1867, indicating he is a pork packer and the packer for Trenton Hams.
Next up is the graphic of the Cudahy Brothers billhead. This company was a large Wisconsin company and still in existence today as Patrick Cudahy.
The development of the agricultural resources of the Western States, especially from Ohio to the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, cheapened the cost of producing animals, particularly hogs; and attention to their production was stimulated and encouraged by the demands from Southern and Eastern dealers for product for their markets. Packing operations naturally followed in many places west of Cincinnati, more or less directly in communication with the transportation facilities afforded by river navigation. The movement of the product was by way of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, and a great deal was shipped thence by vessels to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and other cities on the Atlantic coast.
In the early days of Western pork packing the slaughtering was, to a large extent, a distinctive business from the curing operations. The packer confined himself largely to the cutting and curing of dressed hogs. The farmer in those early days slaughtered his own hogs on the farm, in the months of December and January, the neighbors usually assisted; and he sold whatever he could spare over and above the needs of his own family to the nearest storekeeper, or to the small packer, who, located at some convenient point, cut up the dressed hogs, cured the product, and shipped it South. Sometimes, indeed, the packing-house took the form of a flatboat on the river, the curing, such as it was, being done on board. When the spring "break-up " came the flatboat was floated down the river, and the product exchanged at Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, and New Orleans, for sugar, molasses, rice, and other merchandise.
Chicago's place in the packing business is preeminent today, but it was not always so. For the ten years ending with 1851—52 the packing at Cincinnati represented twenty-seven percent of the total for the West. At that time the industry had scarcely been inaugurated at Chicago, and was of unimportant proportions at St. Louis, while Milwaukee, Kansas City, Omaha, and other towns were unknown in the packing lists. Railroads penetrated the West in 1852, and by 1855 several roads were in operation. This influence opened up the country to settlement, and facilitating the exchange of commodities, which had a marked effect on the extension of the packing business, and in changing its geographical position and its character.
The canning of beef was attempted in Chicago in the sixties, and enjoyed some little growth; but it was not until the year 1879 that the beef-canning business was taken up on a large scale by the packers. Mechanical ingenuity, in discovering a sure and practicable method of hermetically sealing tins, rendered possible the preservation of food in this way on a large scale; and the facilities already secured by the large packers for disposing of every part of the animal placed the business entirely in their hands. The convenience of canned beef, tongues, potted meats, and soups, and the fact that they could be guaranteed to keep sound in any climate for years, combined to steadily increase this branch of the industry.
Unfortunately, I could not find any Cincinnati packing billheads. However, below are some nice examples of the area (I think all of these are currently for sale on ebay right now too).
First off is a nice signboard graphic billhead for Jonathan Steward for 1867, indicating he is a pork packer and the packer for Trenton Hams.
Next up is the graphic of the Cudahy Brothers billhead. This company was a large Wisconsin company and still in existence today as Patrick Cudahy.The next billhead shows a nice graphic of the slaughterhouse for George Clough & Co. dated 1884. Again, another pork packer.
Next up, finally a butcher and beef packer supply house. Beef packers tend to have steer animal graphics on their billheads. Here we have a long-horn animal on this one. Notice the the company manufactures cold storage work and refridgeration.
By far my favorite billhead in this category is the wonderfully colored and vivid graphics of the Brelsford Packing Co. There are currently 2 of these beauties for sale on ebay. Nice cattle graphic and also a nice graphic of hanging pork.
Lastly, let's not forget the UK. A nice 1916 example for a pork purveyor with a nice fat big on it.
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